Installing a different OS on laptop?

Lil' J · 7 Jul 2008 at 20:14

Hi,

i bought a cheap laptop from staples that has 512meg ram with Windows Vista Basic. It's really really slow and was wondering if it be better if i installed XP on this?

The thing is i know laptops have different drivers, to be honest i have installed OS on loads of systems over the years but never on a laptop is there anything i need to check or do?

Where do i get drivers and programs such as the power usage or touch pad

Cheers

craptakular · 7 Jul 2008 at 20:19

from the laptop manufacturer usally. I would invest in 2gb ram pronto. You could try a lieghtweight linux OS.

Mattus · 7 Jul 2008 at 20:30

As Oxy said, I'd try upgrading it to 2GB - probably won't cost any more than an XP license. Selling Vista machines with 512 shouldn't be allowed - it's not even enough to run the base OS and gives people a bad impression of Vista. I bet it runs quite nicely with 2GB.

Having said that, it will probably run better with XP. The drivers should be on the manufacturer's website, though maybe not if it's a cheap make. If not, googling the various parts should find you some XP drivers pronto. Save yourself some hassle and make sure you can find all the drivers before you wipe the lappy.

As for all the crap OEM software that comes on laptops, you're really better off not reinstalling it - it's pretty much all rubbish and you can find replacement programs which do the same job much better.

Lil' J · 7 Jul 2008 at 21:09

Thanks for your reply

Its a Fujitsu Siemens laptop, i'm doing this on behalf of a voluntary organisation, 2gb of ram for a laptop im feeling would be quite expensive however your right that me buying an xp license maybe same price so i'll look into it.

LeperousDust · 7 Jul 2008 at 22:03

Talking probably around £25 for 2Gb of RAM, well worth it, could even look second hand?

pingwing · 8 Jul 2008 at 00:21

Its about £35 new if your laptop can take 2gig dimms.... Probably about the same for 2 1gig sticks... My sisters laptop was the same and i stuck in a gig stick to bring it to 1.5gig of ram, it works really well (she doesnt complain at least)

LeperousDust · 8 Jul 2008 at 00:40

pingwing said:
Its about £35 new if your laptop can take 2gig dimms.... Probably about the same for 2 1gig sticks... My sisters laptop was the same and i stuck in a gig stick to bring it to 1.5gig of ram, it works really well (she doesnt complain at least)

Well considering i'd just looked online to check that, no its £25 for 2Gb new, not including any delivery.

pingwing · 8 Jul 2008 at 01:09

Ooops sorry (its gone down since October) *crys for wasting money*

LeperousDust · 8 Jul 2008 at 01:35

Get over it, lol, i remember paying top wack for 2Gb years ago, probably about 10 times that... Sickening how the price of memory falls, i don't know why you wouldnt have 2Gb for that price.

bledd · 8 Jul 2008 at 09:42

put 2gb on it

disable system restore
disable defender real-time scanning
remove any av software

watch it fly